A cqbposation oe



C. M. BRADFORD.

SHOE.

APPLICATION FILED 001. 27. 1919.

Patented Aug. 9, 1921.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFEIQE.

CHARLES M. BRADFORD, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CORPORATION, OF PATERSON, NEW JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY,

SHOE.

Patented Aug. 9, 1921 Application filed October 27, 1919. Serial No. 333,668.

T 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, CHARLES M. BRAD- rono, a citizen of the United States, residing at Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Shoes, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

The present invention relates to boots and shoes and is herein shown by way of illustration as embodied in a shoe of the type commonly known as a sandal.

This invention has for an object to provide an improved sandal, the manufacturing cost of which will be reduced to a minimum and which, while employing very cheap material, such as fiberboard or the like, will be so constructed and arranged as to provide the maximum durability, comfort and neatness of appearance possible at extremely low cost.

It has been proposed heretofore to employ cheap materials, such as fiberboard, but, among other difficulties, the stiffness and inflexibility of such materials have prevented any substantial use of sandals so made. The present invention makes it practicable to employ such cheap material as fiberboard and to make the sandals at a minimum manufacturing cost, while obtaining the desired flexibility, foot comfort and good appearance, despite the natural stiffness and inflexibility of such material.

In the illustrated embodiment of the in vention, flexibility over the instep and freedom of instep movement are provided for by forming the vamp to present a cut-out instep portion, and locating a tongue in said open or cut-out portion of the instep. To insure ready flexure of the shoe at the break between the forepart and the shank", the shoe upper comprises a vamp and a quarter having their side portions constructed for relative movement at substantially the said line of flexure of the shoe. As herein illustrated, the vamp and quarter are molded with inturned flanges, by means of which they may be readily and securely attached to the sole, the vamp and quarter being unconnected to the sole at the line of flexure except by securing means passing through the inturned flanges into the sole. The invention, however, is equally applicable to shoes having outturned flanges for attachment of the sole.

Of the drawings,

Figure 1 is a perspective view of an article of foot wear constructed according to my invention, parts being broken out to more clearly illustrate the structure;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the forepart member;

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of the'heel part member; and

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the inner and. outsoles separated from each other.

The shoe herein illustrated and which will hereinafter be referred to as a sandal comprises four died out and molded shoe parts, namely a Vamp 12, a quarter 13, an insole 1e and an outsole 15. These members or shoe parts are made of impervious sheet material such as fiberboard and the like which is relatively stiff and inflexible as compared with leather but is much cheaper than leather. The term fiberboard employed herein is intended as a generic term applying to equivalent manufactured sheet material.

In the manufacture of the shoe the members 12 and 18 are shaped, as by molding to their desired conformation in the completed shoe; During the molding the members 12 and 13 are also preferably provided with an inwardly extending angular serrated margin 16 which in the assembly of the shoe parts extends between the outer edges of the inner and out-soles to which the flange is secured by suitable fastenings 17.

When the vamp and quarter shown in Figs. 2 and 3 are connected with the inner and outsoles as described, they are associated so that their side portions overlap as indicated at 18, but the overlapping por tions are not connected otherwise than through the medium of the soles 14, 15 of the sandal or more strictly, the inturned flange 16 and the soles. This construction and relation of the vamp and quarter properly reinforces the sandal at the ball or line of flexure of the shoe, the tongues or projections of the serrated flange 16 being of course disposed one upon the other in the region of the ball line, thereby strengthening the sandal at this point.

It will be appreciated that the overlapping unconnected assembly of the vamp and quarter at the ball line allows relative movement of the vamp and quarter at this point and therefore unrestricted flexibility of the shoe across the ball line. If the vamp 12 were continuous at that portion. which is above the instep of the wearer or adjacent thereto, there would not be sutlicient flexing of the vamp at this part to provide for comfortable wear because the convexed conformation of the vamp over the instep necessarily renders that part substantially rigid. in other words, the shoe, for comfortable wear, must not restrict the free and easy movement of the instep portion of the foot. Accordingly, the shoe provided by the present invention has the instep portion of the vamp 12 cut away at 19 to a point far enough in advance of the ball line of the foot to present no unyielding portion of the vamp above such portion of the foot. Preferably the cut away part 19 is not continuous entirely across the sandal but is so formed as to leave a tongue 20 with a cut away portion 19 at each side thereof. Said tongue 20 may be of any desired length, but for convenience of manufacture in saving material when the vamp 12 is died out, the tongue portion 20 is cut short and has suitably secured thereto an extension 21. Obviously, however, the portions 20, 21 might be integral.

The quarter 3 is provided with suitable eyelets 22 for a lacing 23, and preferably a hook 24- carried by the tongue is provided to engage the lacing to hold it in proper position.

It will be understood, of course, that a practical article of foot wear of the character described must not be so constructed that in use any such strain will come upon the parts thereof as would break the til 1. ()wing to the forepart beingso formed that no part thereof is subject to a crimping or folding tendency when being worn, and owing to the fact that the sides of the vamp and quarter overlap at the ball line, there is no such strain upon any part of the sandal that can not be effectively resisted by the material itself. It will be apparent that a shoe manufactured as above described utilizes a very cheap and inexpensive material as compared to materials commonly used for shoes and by reason of its construction and relation of parts may be assembled more or less me chanically and therefore at a minimum labor cast. Moreover, the material of which the sandal is made will insure a durability and service while the particular arrange ment of the shoe parts provides the necessary comfort and flexibility.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A shoe having an upper comprising a vamp and a quarter both of stiff and inflexible material, and a flexible sole, the said vamp having an open instep portion and a tongue located in the opening and the said vamp and quarter having their side portions shaped and arranged for relative movement at substantially the line of flexure of the sole.

2. A shoe having an upper comprising a vamp and a quarter both of stiff and inflexible material and provided with a sole attaching flange, the instep portion of the vamp being cut out to provide flexibility at the instep and having a tongue located in the opening and movable over the instep as the foot is bent, the saic vamp and the quar er having overlapping side portions unconnected to each otheranjd capable of ileXur-c at the junction of the vamp and quarter, and a flexible sole attached to the said flanges of the vamp and the quarter.

3. A shoe having an upper comprising the, vamp and the quarter, both of stiff and inflexible material, and provided with a sole attaching flange, the said vamp having an open instep portion and a tongue located in the said opening, and the vamp and the quarter having overlapping, unconnected side portions at substantially the line of flexure of the shoe, a flexible insole, flexible ou'tsole, and fastenings passing through the margin of the insole, the inturned of the vamp and the quarto and the margin of the outsole.

it. snoe having an upper comprising a vamp and a quarter both of stiff and inflexible material and provided with inturned flanges and a flexible sole to which the amp and the quarter are attached by the said inturned flangeathesides of the vamp and the quarter at substantially the ball line of the shoe being arranged for relative movement whereby the flexibility. of the sole across the ball line is unrestricted.

Er shoe having an upper comprising a vamp portion and a quarter portion of stiff material such as fiberboard and provided with sole attaching flanges, said vamp and quarter having side portions overlapping at the ball and unconnected to each other, and a flexible sole of the same material underlying the flanges and secured thereto.

In testimony whereof l'have signed my name to this specification.'

CHARLES M. BRADFORD. 

